Been Feeling Sorry for Myself

I was co-leader of a GS group that had lots of involved parents too. We ended up having a planning meeting in the beginning of the year where each mother was responsible for planning 1 meeting, top to bottom, where the girls earned a badge. This worked out great for all. No one was spread too thin and each meeting was fabulous because each parent only had 1 meeting to prepare for.

If I were you, I would hold a group parent meeting. See if someone wants to step up a be leader. If no one volunteers, I think you should stick with it for the girls sake. I also think you should delegate many of the planning task too though.
Have a list of what needs to get done for each meeting. Have a signup sheet.
Honestly, when I am leading something, if someone doesn't like the way I am doing it, I remind them that I am a volunteer and that if there is a better way they can certainly help lead the way or put us on the right track.

I think you said it yourself: "I don't have the energy to be the best at Girl Scouts". Simply tell them right now that you are removing yourself from the leadership because you don't have the personal energy that's required in order to lead such a worthy group. Vice President Joe Biden has said, on several recent occasions, that he is not sure he is going to run for President. It's not because he lacks the credentials or experience, it's because he is grieving the loss of his deceased son, and he said he doesn't know if he has the energy to devote to such a daunting task as running for President. People understand that. You may not be experiencing the same life events as the Vice President, but people will understand when you tell them you simply don't have the time and energy to devote to an active group right now, and for the good of Girl Scouts in general and your group in particular, you're going to focus on other things right now. Don't say any more. Don't get into discussing this with ANYONE other than maybe your husband or your sister or dearest, most trusted friend. Keep it very simple. Vice President Biden did not go into lengthy detail about the grieving process, or how his son's family is doing, or how he and his wife are helping with their grandchildren. He just said he doesn't have the energy that the task requires.

Everyone gets 10 minutes pity party time.
Then you dust yourself off and move on.
Any longer than 10 minutes means you're enjoying wallowing in it - and that's never constructive.
No one likes to be around anyone who's "Oh, woe is me!" all the time.

Everyone has a momentary pity party once in a while. It's part of being human.

When I feel this way I look for bits of insight from others because if I'm feeling self absorbed I know I'm just too close to the problem to see it objectively.

Next time leave your question up, listen to all the advice (good, bad & ugly) then put together a plan from the messages you feel will be most helpful. You robbed yourself of the key out of your funk IMO. Next time don't give yourself a free pass to wallow.

?
yeah.
context would be helpful.
khairete
S.

Oh dear - wish I could help, but you edited your question and changed the title just as I was clicking on it. Sorry you decided to do that as perhaps you might have gotten helpful info. Good luck with whatever the problem was and I hope this means you worked it out.

And your question is? I see this is your first question and you haven't posted an answers. Perhaps you'll be more comfortable to ask and leave questions after you just follow the site for awhile. Some moms give an answer that you won't like. I urge you to not take answers so personally. Look at answers as just information. Use what helps. Ignore the rest.

Have you contacted your service unit manager? They usually have training that can help you figure out how to work with difficult parents, so perhaps can help you exit gracefully.

Don't listen to the other J.. You sound like a fine leader. You have some underminers underfoot, so you need to just remove yourself. Just say, "after some thought, I've decided I am unable to lead the troop this year. My plate is over full, and this is what needs to be removed."

Hang in there. I had some "involved" folks try to take my co/op away from me last year. I stood my ground, but it really made me doubt myself. I was crushed for a long time. I thought I was friends with these women, but I really wasn't.

Don't beat yourself up. remove yourself, shake it off, and move on.

I don't know what you were feeling sorry about, so I can only add to that, I am sure most of us at one time or another have felt sorry for themselves.Usually it's temporary but if you feel depressed a lot, please go for some good ego boosting help~!

"I'm not that good of a leader. If I were I would have known how to handle this. I think the good thing about all of this is it did expose how bad at this I really am"

This is what one of my grade school teachers called fishing for a compliment. You aren't getting one from me by the way. They want to take over, there is no process to your leaving, it is just a function of being a grown up and saying it seems you want to do this differently, would you like to take over. Not said like a petulant child but a grown up. You know, not a well you seem to think you can do it better!!1!!! *stomps away* but just you seem to have a lot of different ideas do you want to give it a try.

Being a leader is not about your feelings and I see too much of your feelings in this post so yes, you are not a good leader. I am assuming your daughter wants to continue to be a part of this troop? If yes, check your drama at the door and give control to one of the new moms.
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Please for the sake of your daughter who has friends in that troop, don't act like this around the other moms. It was very obvious from your post that you need people to agree with you, do as you think, or you get upset and pouty. You are a mom, you have a child so don't hurt her because of your own needs.

My first reaction is to not let the "cows" run you off. However, if you really do think its time to go, for whatever reason, then just send out a mass email to all the parents, saying you think the time has come for you to move on and is there anyone interested in taking over the group? Say you will be happy to help out and your daughter will stay in the group (if she will). That way you will still see the girls you've become close to. Or if you are going to leave the group and your daughter isn't going to return, then you can have her friends come over or still be in touch. I don't know why you couldn't do that.

Sometimes things just come to a head that makes us reevaluate what's going on in our lives and sometimes we have to cut some things out to make room for some peace and quite. If you have too many things going on and a death in the family, it's a lot to deal with and maybe this just threw you over the edge. It's ok. Just cut back on things that aren't a priority so you can have some time to get back to normal. Good luck.

I wrote a response, but now I see that this wasn't the original question. I don't like feeling misled, so I'm erasing my response.

Osohapi has really good advice - I think that's what I would follow here.

My first reaction was the same - don't let a few nasty comments make you give up something you have enjoyed and felt good at.

The other thought was - are you sure it was as you say, they all feel you are stupid and incompetent? I can't imagine moms carrying on this way at a GS outing ... but then I haven't been involved with them on that level. I do know that when my husband has volunteered with scouts the outings were always poorly organized and the parents were confused, but that goes with the territory! He used to just step up and take charge while the leader dealt with the kids. I've heard that happens quite frequently.

So if some of this could be better handled - like JC mentions below - where a parent could take some tasks on, or the co-leader could handle tasks for parents ... would that help?

I guess you have to decide if you're mentally prepared to deal with this group. Sounds like you've been really stressed and this just got to you. Maybe in a week's time it won't be so upsetting. Any chance of talking to the co-leader? Just in case some of this was a misunderstanding and you could clear it up?

Don't beat yourself up too badly. People making rude comments at any time is wrong, so that part - let go. That's on them. And not being your best is understandable too - you are human.

The other thought was talking to your unit supervisor person and getting advice from them.

I like the idea of still being involved though - if you've enjoyed it and like being involved for your daughter's sake.

Good luck :)

Of course! Wouldn't be human if I didn't.